Mediationen am Gnadenstuhl: Friday of Easter - Hebrews 12
Friday of Easter
Daily Lectionary Readings: Exodus 18:5-27; Hebrews 12:1-24; (Sirach 37)
Hebrews 12:
[1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, [2] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
[3] Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. [4] In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. [5] And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
[6] For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
[7] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? [8] If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. [9] Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? [10] For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. [11] For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
[12] Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, [13] and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. [14] Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. [15] See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; [16] that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. [17] For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
[18] For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest [19] and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. [20] For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” [21] Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” [22] But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, [23] and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, [24] and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
[25] See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. [26] At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” [27] This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. [28] Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, [29] for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV)
Christ the Author & Perfecter of Faith
Some of these last meditations on the book of Hebrews might be best used over several days, as the preacher to the Hebrews has a lot to teach us in the final chapters of his sermon.
Chapter 11 ended with God’s statement that none of those people of faith had yet reached the goal because God provided something better. Now we switch from past to present in the Divine Service.
v.1 Those people of faith surround the congregation invisibly, just as Jesus is invisible. They both testify through the Word, as well as encourage. Therefore, the congregation can strip off for the race with confidence, “laying aside every encumbrance.” They are encouraged to run with endurance (perseverance) in three ways. First, perseverance to the end despite all hardships. Second, endurance of discomfort, hardship, and pain. Finally, a patient expectation of God’s promised intervention (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).
v.2 Fix your eyes on Jesus’ obedience, whose courage far exceeds anything we face. He was tempted to seek refuge and avoid the cross, but He set that aside, along with His power as God. He was able to endure for the joy of pleasing the Father and inheriting a people called by faith.
v.3 Jesus is our example of a life lived in faith. He endured hatred at the hands of sinners and pressed on anyway. No matter what we face, Jesus’ trials far exceed them.
v.4 We have not battled sin such that the only way to win is by our death. We can not say our trials have been so extreme that sin is necessary and reasonable.
v.5-6 Quoting Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11; Psalm 3. Do not neglect the discipline of the Lord. God uses trials as discipline to grow, learn endurance, learn our weaknesses and crucify the flesh.
v.7-8 Since God teaches us to live as sons, we are to endure the course as Jesus did, persevering with patient expectation so that eventually we benefit from it.
v.9 The preacher now includes himself. Just as the people hold their earthly fathers in high regard, so much more so should they regard God who gives life but also promises to share his immortality as co-heirs with Christ.
v.10 Earthly fathers instruct out of their wisdom as seems right for the sake of their children and for his own gain as he must hand over responsibility and assets of the family to the next generation. Contrast with God who does not benefit but for their present and future benefit and holiness. He makes them holy in the Divine Service, where they become like Him by the body and blood of Christ, which sanctifies them.
v.11 All instruction seems to deliver more sorrow than joy. Such it was for Christ. They experienced this when they were persecuted, but the end result of instruction by God is “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
v.12 The preacher exhorts the race runners to straighten their limp hands and disabled knees and keep on running, not give up and drop out due to hitting the wall of fatigue and cramping muscles, → stay with the team (the congregation), and be healed.
v.13 Now, the congregation is presented as a single body. The lame limb is a single weak person. Run in the way of instruction in order to be healed by the divine Word.
v.14 The hearers of the preacher's sermon are now told to pursue peace and sanctification. They do not pursue what they do not have but what belongs to them already. Through Christ, they have ongoing access to peace and sanctification, which they pursue by faithful communal participation in the Divine Service and their avoidance of what desecrates them.
v.15 The congregation pursues peace and sanctification by watching over each other. They keep watch so that no one misses out on grace by falling behind and dropping out of the race. Neglect of God's grace opens the door to secret apostasy and attachment to pagan gods, which one is called "the root of bitterness" in Deuteronomy 29:18. A single embittered person can drag down the entire congregation.
v.16 A third threat to the pursuit of peace and sanctification is a member of the congregation who is an “immoral” or “godless” person. This is not an either/or but a both-and. Esau committed sacrilege, showing contempt for God’s blessing, losing his inheritance, the result of which included his illegitimate marriages. Such action desecrates God’s holiness.
v.17 It is urged that such behavior be dealt with pastorally so first, the congregation is not defiled; second, God’s holiness is not defiled; and third, that this individual will not be rejected at the eschaton.
v.18 The preacher’s congregation has “not come near” to the same place with the same revealing of God as did the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. That Old Testament theophany gave the Israelites access to seven things:
1• That which may be touched. The paradox is access was forbidden to a place that was, in fact, physically accessible. The preacher is referring to the whole of the old covenant and its Divine Service, which provided limited access to God's presence.
2• The fire is the fire of God's glory, His holy presence. It burns up that which is unclean and makes the common holy. It deals out death and also gives life. The fire on the altar showed the glory of God to the congregation.
3• Darkness,
4• Gloom,
5• and the Storm Cloud: At Mt. Sinai, God veiled His glory, the fire of his presence, in both natural and supernatural darkness. He concealed himself visually in order to reveal Himself verbally. Paradoxically, the fire of God’s light was manifest as darkness. Their hearing was the only sense that remained effective. What Moses heard was the Word.
6• v.19-20 The blast of the horn: this announced the coming of the Lord and summoned the people to him (Exodus 19). The herald was so strong that both people and the mountain trembled. The voice of the Lord introduced Himself by name and spoke the decalogue (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). These are the only words God spoke to the people without a mediator. The divine voice from the fire was so overwhelming that they did not want God to keep on speaking to them directly, so they asked Moses to be God's spokesman and their representative.
7• v.21 Here, the preacher goes outside scripture concerning Moses: While the people could not bear the sound of the theophany and the commands it delivered, what was made visible was even more terrifying. Even Moses, the mediator of God’s grace on the mountain, was terrified. Whatever the rhetorical device employed here with the verbs, it associates the trembling of Moses at Sinai with the Divine Service instituted by God through Moses in the tabernacle.
v.22 "You have come near." Accessible now but not yet completely – the congregation's involvement in the Divine Service. The place they have accessed is the heavenly sanctuary. In the Divine Service, heaven and earth overlap, and the congregation "comes near" to the heavenly realm. It is here that the faithful participate in seven heavenly realities. Note the number seven, contrasting the earthly things with the heavenly things. See if you can count them all. The whole of the heavenly Jerusalem, the residence of God's people, is now God's dwelling with His people. Mountain, city, and sanctuary have merged into one place, accessed in the Divine service. The Israelites praised God in his earthly temple while the angels sang in the heavenly temple. This has now changed. When the congregation comes to Zion in the Divine Service, it joins with “myriads of angels in festal gathering.” The angelic army does not come to battle the enemies of God but to celebrate His triumph over them. By Christ’s incarnation and exhalation, Jesus unites the earthly and heavenly choirs such that the church on earth joins together with the angels in their adoration of God.
v.23 In the ancient world, the firstborn son was the head of the family, the heir who inherited the family estate. God, by the incarnation of His Son, appointed Jesus, His firstborn, the messianic heir of all things. All who share in Christ share in His sonship, glory, and holiness (Hebrews 2:10-11; 3:14). "God the judge of all" – we moderns tend to think of judgment as condemnation and negative, especially seen through the lens of a guilty conscience. In the Old Testament, God's judgment was regarded more in a positive manner, righting something wrong. They prayed the Psalms and asked for judgment, then prayed for acquittal and justice.
The same revealing of God that delivers pardon and justice to those who draw near – through Christ also brings accusation and condemnation to all who spurn Him. At the same time, the theophany brings life and salvation; it brings death and destruction. Judgment has been a theme that has run throughout the preacher's sermon. There is a day of eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:3; 10:25).
In the theophany of the Divine Service, the congregation comes to "the spirit of the righteous made perfect." These are the people of faith (Hebrews 10:38-39) who, having died in faith, have reached the heavenly Jerusalem. Not only the faithful witnesses of chapter 11 but all the saints of both the old and new covenants. They have finished the race. They are "righteous" because they have been justified by faith in their earthly lives. And because they have died in that faith in their great high priest, they have been “made perfect.” Therefore, they lack nothing in their relationship with God because God has completed his work with them – their life of faith has reached its consummation.
v.24 In the Divine Service, the saints on earth come to "the mediator of a new covenant" – Jesus. As a man of flesh and blood, He is the mediator of the new covenant, just as Moses was of the old. He serves as mediator by establishing the new covenant during His earthly ministry and now by distributing God's promised benefits by His heavenly ministry. By speaking of Jesus as the "mediator of a new covenant," the preacher is alluding to the Lord's supper in which He inaugurated the new testament and through which He cleanses and consecrates the congregation with His blood. The Lord's supper is the new covenant foretold by Jeremiah (31:31-34; cf. Hebrews 8:6-13).
The blood of Christ addresses God's people with a better message than the blood of Abel because the blood of Christ provides salvation while the blood of Abel speaks only condemnation. The focus on the blood of Christ makes no sense unless it is connected with the Lord's Supper. Here those who recline at table hear the blood that speaks the forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation. Jesus has taken that human blood of the only begotten Son of God into heaven where it has become most holy; it comes down out of heaven and sanctifies those who hear "the better word" that speaks to them as they drink it with faith in that Word.